Air Forces in Exile ?

As far as I know it has two purposes, tactical transport as well as frigate helicopter.
Developed and build by Agusta(Italy), Aérospatiale(France), Fokker(Netherlands) and MBB(Germany).

 

To return to the subject (although it was a bit of an "off topic) of Argentine pilots in THE RAF, there was an item in the Buenos Aires daily C"larin' today which states :

"Athough on opposite sides during the South Atlantic ,Argentine and British pilots fought side by side in WW2" For their valorous deeds those Argentine volunteers will be honored in London this coming Thursday. Twelve of our countrymen who fought side by side with the British in the 164th Squadron of the RAF will travel to the UK to ther celebrations which will coincide with the presentation of the book "Alas de Trueno" "Thunder Wings" in which authors Claudio Meunier (own note: one of teose who volunteered and flew with the RAF) narrate the story of the 600 (Argentine)volunteers who fougth for the Allied Cause " . :smok:

 

Cool. Thanks, Skua.

 

I feel I must help the Poles a little, my Mother´s family coming from Lvov. Not because I feel paricularly Polish, but some entrances were a bit nasty to them.

One in 8 of allied pilots in B of B was Polish, and the highest scoring squadron within the whole of Allied air forces was the Polish 303 Squadron which accounted for 125 German planes. The highest scoring allied fighter pilot was also a member of that squadron. All told, the Polish pilots were responsible for 201 of the Luftwaffe's 1100 planes lost. It is said that the Battle of Britain was won by a narrow margin, and the contribution of the already combat experienced Polish pilots was decisive.

 

The only real entry about the Poles was made by me, and I do not consider anything in there nasty in the slightest. The comments made were that the Poles fought with the greatest ferocity, a fact backed up by the figures you posted, and a reference to having to place German POWs under guard for their own safety, which was an anecdote I used because I had read it in a book myself and I found it an interesting reversal of the norm for POWs.

I fail to see anything that I said was nasty.

 

There were to entries along these lines and, apart from the “ferocity” remark, nothing that has given them their due. My mistake, for which I apologize, was a smiley, which was not there (as I had planned to place one but forgotten).

These guys were well trained pilots, many of them with several scorings in 1939, flying far inferior aircraft than the Germans. As they arrived in (in itself a feat) Britain, they were sent to school to learn fundamentals of flying (you know, these east Europeans...). The attitude changed after the B of B started for real and they demanded armed airplanes to go in action.
The were not invited to the Victory Parade in London, AFAIK. Or am I wrong again?

 

Izaak dont't forget Israelis ( i don't know if this is a correct term as Israel didn't exist back then). If i'm not mistaken Ezer Weitzmann ( your former president) flew with RAF.
There were also Yugoslav pilots in RAF. Mainly from former Jugoslavenka Kraljevska Mornarica (JKM- Royal Yugoslav Navy) and also from Jugoslovensko Kraljevsko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo ( JKRV- Royal Yugoslav air force. JKM pilots formed entire sqadron with their Do-22Kj planes in Aboukir ( Egypt) in 1941. Do-22's were their planes with wich they escaped after Yugoslavia capitulated.
252. ( Spit Mk-Vb/c) and 251. ( Hurricane MkIV) squadrons of BAF ( Balcan Air Force - part of RAF) were totaly Yugoslav and they carried red stars.
94. squadron B(yu) flight ( spit Mk.IXc) - pilots that remained loyal to the king Peter.
There were also yugoslav personell in some bomber squadrons. Most of ground personell comprised from Slovenes ( at the time Yugoslavs) forcibly mobilised into Italian and German military.

 

I was talking solely about B of B. and E.W. began flying, AFAIR, in 1944, in Asia. You can come up with many Jewish pilots, however, I prefer to consider them citizens of their respective countries, rather than on tribal basis. My Grandfather I refer solely to as a Soviet oficer.
I also promised myself not to touch Jewish questions. I feel it´s better that way.

 

This is a bit off topic, but I'd like to share this with y'all. Only seven Americans flew with the RAF during the BoB. The main reason for this appears to be that Joseph Kennedy, Sr., the American ambassador to Britain at the time, threatened to revoke the American citizenship of any of his countrymen who tried to join the RAF. Seems he really hated the Brits (why he was our envoy in Londond has always puzzled me for just this reason, BTW), being Irish-American, even to the point of acting in a way that aided the Germans. And yes, the man was JFK's father.

 

Ha had a lot of buissnes deals with germans and he was influental supporter of FDR.

 

He wasn´t the only one who denied his countrymen to help out Britain. There were about 160 trained Norwegian pilots in Britain during the BoB, but they were denied to participate by the exile goverment. Apparently they were to be saved for the liberation of Norway. Not a very popular decision amongst the pilots, who were extremely provoked by it. The Norwegian PM in exile ( Nygaardsvoll ) was given a cold shoulder when he later visited one of the newly established Norwegian manned fighter squadrons ( 332, I believe ) in Scotland.

 

Not to mention later when one FAA pilot ( on corsairs ) participated in operations against Japan. All hell broke loose when Norvegian goverment found out ( as Norge was not in war with Japan)

 

most of the forign fighter squads are eagle squadren

 

Could you elaborate on this?

 

most of the forign fighter squads are eagle squadren

That is completely untrue. There were I believe two Eagle Squadrons consisting of US "Canadian" Volunteers that were formed after the Battle of Britain, during the Battle of Britain the US Volunteer pilots slotted in with regular RAF squadrons, the formation of Free-French, Czechoslovak, Polish, etc squadrons preceded these and outlasted the Eagle Squadrons in addition to being more numerous than them, since after the US entry into the war those pilots joined US units once their RAF tours expired.

Your statement has no basis in reality at all.